The present invention relates to controllers for water aeration systems and, more particularly, to such apparatus for use in recreational boats, or other watercraft, or other transportation vehicles, including automobiles, wherein livewells, baitwell, or similar aquatic wildlife holding tanks are contained needing aeration to increase the oxygen content and other qualities of the water held therein.
Conventional livewells and baitwells are commonly provided in modern watercraft, such as boats, or in other vehicles, all of which are typically also fitted with electric power batteries, and corresponding battery charging systems, or other electric power sources. Such sources are often then used to provide electrically powered water pumps for selectively filling the tanks contained in such livewells and baitwells with water from an adjacent source of water such as the ambient body of water in which a boat or watercraft is being operated. These tanks typically also contain an overflow discharge line to establish a maximum depth of water in those tanks and so prevent overfilling thereof beyond such a depth.
More sophisticated holding tanks in some watercraft and some land use vehicles are also provided with a pump operated recirculation aeration system therein for withdrawing water from within the tank that is pumped to a spraybar through which pressurized water jets are sprayed from openings therein across some portion of the atmosphere into, and so returned to, the tank through having such spraying directed back into the tank. This spraying serves to replenish the oxygen in the tank water that is otherwise being consumed therefrom by the aquatic vertebrates and invertebrates that are being kept in the water in the tank.
The quality of water contained in such livewells, baitwells, aquariums and other such holding tanks, can be affected by many different conditions. These include the quality and size of aquatic wildlife contained therein, the excited nature of this aquatic wildlife, the ambient temperature of the water held within each holding tank, and the existence of water contaminants contained therein. Thus, in typical operation, a tank aeration system is periodically operated to discharge water through the overflow discharge line to carry with it fish scales, slime secretions, and aquatic wildlife waste all of which are usually expelled by aquatic wildlife in their normally excited state that typically results from their being placed in a holding tank. Other water contaminants are also often brought in to the tanks through the water pump drawing in water from a source in which such contaminants occur, such as a lake, which contaminants can also be subsequently discharged through the tank overflow line apparatus.
An electronic controller device is typically provided to actuate, for selected times, tank water aeration systems powered by a vehicle battery. Livewell and baitwell aeration systems presently available typically use a manual switch to turn the aeration systems on and off.
Most frequently, the livewell pump is simply left on constantly by the user, and the only form of operational control is for the operator to turn it on and off manually. Leaving the pump on continuously can rapidly drain the battery that runs the pump. This is a particularly serious problem for offshore fishermen in boats who may use the storage battery that is provided in the boat for both starting the boat engine and for supplying electrical power to operate this pump. This means the operator must use care to remember to not discharge the battery to the point where the engine cannot be restarted, or else must idle the engine to keep the battery charged. Idling the engine not only consumes gasoline, but also may disturb the fishing in the area of the boat.
Alternatively, a common practice is to use some kind of adjustable timing device which can periodically activate the aeration system according to a user selectable time setting. However, such devices are often limited in the operation timing control selections they offer. Operators often forget that the livewell has been kept on, leaving battery too close to charge depletion to be capable of restarting the vehicle engine thereby resulting in a stranded user situation. In addition, there are many possible situations in which users want to operate the aerators when watercraft or other vehicles containing them have the vehicle propulsion engine off.
Different species of aquatic wildlife require different levels of water quality in the livewell or baitwell to survive well therein. Some particular species of minnows are very sensitive to poor water quality and require frequent replenishment, whereas other species are quite hardy, and will survive well with infrequent aeration and/or replenishment of the water in the holding tank. Thus, an automatic control system for aerators that will control the aeration so as to maintain water quality in livewells and baitwells in the various conditions than currently encountered is needed that also makes the efficient use of the vehicle battery.